


Reunion

by levy120



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)
Genre: Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:21:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25783561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/levy120/pseuds/levy120
Summary: After reconciling with Rapunzel and finally having his Dad back, Varian couldn't ask for more… right?
Relationships: Ruddiger & Varian (Disney)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 47





	Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> Submission for the Weekly Challenge at the new Varian Discord: "The Alchemy Initiative" :)  
> Prompt "Reunion" for my fellow Raccoons.

Varian felt… _full._

After Quirin had been freed Rapunzel left them, so that father and son could have the space for that long-overdue talk.

The secrets he'd learned that day weighed heavily on him, but at the same time, Varian felt light in that he'd finally been trusted with that kind of information. The same way, he felt regret at telling of all his crimes, but a sense of relief blooming in his chest of having been honest about it. No more secrets, they’d agreed. Not ever again. 

Honestly, as far as his father was concerned, Varian couldn't have been more glad and he was sure that he was finally going to sleep pleasantly tonight since… forever.  
But… well, no. If only it could have been so easy. 

Despite having finally gotten everything that he'd been yearning for for an entire year - he should have felt content, really; not asking for more…  
but his shoulders felt too light without a familiar weight draped over them and the basket by his bed looked too bare. 

_Ruddiger._

The raccoon had followed him to jail, refusing to let himself get taken from the guards. Undoubtedly he’d been the reason Varian stayed sane for the first couple of weeks until he’d been relocated to stay with the Saporians - and that was when things had gone downhill.   
Never been fond of them or their antics, the raccoon had been aggressive, so eventually, they had told Varian to get rid of him for Ruddiger’s… uncooperative behavior. 

So he did. 

Thinking back on that moment still hurt, the look of betrayal on the animal’s face leaving a pang in his chest. But he’d obliged without a fuss and that had been the last Varian had seen of his friend.

He’d been an idiot. 

An idiot that needed to apologize badly.   
But Ruddiger wasn’t going to be coming back, so what was Varian going to do? 

An apple-pie apparently. 

He’d started it as a means to get his mind off of the issue, do something relaxing, and mostly mindless. But he was still Varian, so what came of it was a work of art, big and crusty and deliciously smelling, shaped like a raccoon. 

Ruddiger would have loved that. 

Tears welled up in his eyes and with a sigh, Varian carried the pastry to the window-sill, so it could cool off (and he wouldn’t have to look at it) while he could take care of the resulting mess in the kitchen. 

It wasn’t long after he’d turned around though, that something smacked the back of his head. 

Something warm and… 

The alchemist whirled around in surprise to find a familiar raccoon looming over the vandalized pastry. His jaw fell open and his shoulders slacked with a relieved “Ruddiger!”  
But the animal looked far from happy about his offering and instead hurled another pawful of the steaming cake at the boy with indignant chatter. 

And yet, Varian couldn’t feel any happier. 

“I know,” he cried out, “I know. I’m so sorry. Where have you been?!” 

The raccoon looked unimpressed, having flopped on his haunches and put his arms akimbo (definitely Ruddiger), though the accusatory glare would not waver. Not knowing what else he was supposed to do, Varian approached - slowly - in the hopes that the very unhappy animal wouldn’t change his mind and run off after finally having come back so sudden-  
That’s when it hit him. 

Varian halted his approach, one arm still lingering midair in an attempt to reach out, otherwise unsure what to do with it.   
“You never left.” 

Ruddiger chattered in reply, loud and vocally. He had a lot to say, and though Varian couldn’t understand ‘raccoon’ he… well, he could figure.   
“You’re the best, Ruddiger!” Varian insisted at the first pause that allowed him to speak, “You were right. I never should have done that. Please… I _missed_ you.” 

The raccoon gave pause at that, crossing his arms and tilting head away with a huff… 

Varian panicked and barely managed to take a step further before the animal, like flicking a switch, leaped at the boy from the far off distance of the windowsill. A yelp of surprise later Ruddiger clambered up onto his shoulder and fussed up his hair, leaving the boy’s outcry to morph into relieved laughter. 

After Varian’s hair had turned into an absolute mess, Ruddiger continued to nuzzle his friend’s cheeks and petted the tears away, spreading apple-pie dough everywhere in the progress. Varian sniffled, a hand reaching up to pull the animal close on his shoulders - where he was always meant to be - and scratched his friend behind the ears. 

The warmth of his fur, the gentle prodding - it floored Varian. The faint smell of apples still wafted in the air.  
“The pie is for eating you know,” he mumbled into the raccoon’s hug, “way better than throwing. It’s all yours.” Just in case that hadn’t been obvious before, but he’d doubted Dad would want a piece of it now anyway. Ruddiger chittered excitedly and instead of heading for the tempting cake on the window-sill, began to lick the smeared pastry off of his boy’s face. 

Varian laughed and let him. 

Finally…  
he felt _whole._


End file.
